Greeny Phatom Wiki:Policy
Talk policy The Greeny Phatom Wiki talk policy explains how to use talk pages appropriately on Greeny Phaotm Wiki. You should try and follow these guidelines when you're editing a talk page or user talk page. What the heckity hay is a Message Wall/Discussion section??? A message wall and discussion section are built-in parts of the customized MediaWiki software that Wikia (and in turn, Greeny Phatom Wiki, since it's hosted in Wikia) is run on. Every page has its own message wall or discussion section or a talk page attached to it, depending on the type of the page. Every user has their own personal message wall where you can leave them a message. To get to: #an article's discussion section, click the "comments" button near the title of a page. #user's message wall, click the "Message Wall" tab, or go to Message Wall: #a talk page of a Greeny Phatom Wiki article thing like this, go to a page like Greeny Phatom Wiki Talk:Policy (example) The talk page for this policy page can be found at Greeny Phatom Wiki Talk:Policy. Note (Talk) # The Wiki Staff are allowed to edit others' comments, within reason. # The regular contributors/users can not edit another user's comments in the Discussion section, and when in Talk page, should not edit other's discussions - even if there are spelling errors. If there are any spelling errors, inform the staff about it. # Removing comments is also prohibited, unless it is spam, content that would be better suited to the Bulbagarden forums, or an inappropriate comment. # Please check the dates of a discussion before you reply to it. Unless an old conversation is still relevant and there is a good reason to revitalize discussion, comments on sections older than six months old are not recommended to be made, if the problems cited in the previous comments have already been cleared up. # Don't leave overly long and confusing messages. No one likes to read stuff like that. Most of us are kids, some teenagers and few adults. Write concisely to make sure your points can be understood. # Keep the conversation in one place. It's difficult to read a conversation when every other comment is on a different page and it means the page history can be used to check the history of the discussion. This also allows third (or fourth) parties to join in if relevant. # Give the owner of the message wall thirty minutes, to possibly 12 hours, to respond depending on their time zone. It is their talk page, it doesn't make much sense to have someone else jump in and respond for them. It's on their message wall, and someone wanted their input. # Staff are allowed to respond on other staff members' talk pages if that staff member is not available. ## Likewise, if the staff members share power over a specific area, they are always allowed to respond to talk page messages on each other's talk page. # If a discussion on a user's talk page starts to break the talk page policy, or the code of conduct, a staff member is allowed to come onto the page and break up the arguing. Let's go on with this show. Signing comments (Talk pages) All comments left on talk pages must have a signature left afterwards. Unlike on most forums and message boards, this is not done automatically by the software. To leave a signature, either type ~~~~ when you have finished your contribution to the discussion. Signing comments is required so that readers can identify who is saying what, and when they are saying it. If a recent comment has been left unsigned, then any editor may amend it with the signature and "(unsigned)" word. If you forget to sign when you save the page, then you must add the "(unused)" because otherwise the time stamps in the discussion will be wrong. How should a talk page not be used? Talk pages aren't water coolers or places for most of the general discussion. The or a message wall should be used for all general discussion of Greeny Phatom, the wiki, or community-related topics. For instance, on talk pages, message walls, discussion sections, and on forum, it is not acceptable to: * Leave messages to a user on their message wall, which are considered by the staff to be abusive. * Leave too meaningless posts such as "oh, that guy just pwnd you." * Spam the same or similar messages over and over again. * Have lengthy discussions not related to Bulbapedia. For this, use the Greeny Phatom Wiki's Forum or Message Wall functions. If you post a comment on a talk page that is unacceptable for any of the above reasons, it may be removed by any staff member. If you remove an unacceptable comment from a talk page, please state what is wrong with it in other staff member's wall. If a user repeatedly leaves inappropriate messages on a talk page then they should be warned by a staff member and may face a short block. Other user's talk pages Like you, every user that registers has his or her own talk page, and like any other talk page, users still must abide by the rules of the talk page policy. However, there are a few specific rules users will need to follow when on another users talk page, as noted in the notes What does water cooler mean? Etymology Water + cooler. In sense of gossip, compare scuttlebutt, of similar origin. Noun Water cooler (plural: water coolers) # A dispenser of cooled drinking water. # (figuratively) A place in the workplace where employees gossip. Adjective Water cooler # of the nature of things discussed around a water-cooler ## "in those days The Late Show was Monday water cooler topic du jour." For those who didn't bother to read much....